Adolph moeitz



Y ,r A; MORITZ'. AMamhine for Working Rattan.

Patnted Feb. 3, 18A-80V. A

No.l 224,212.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ADoLPH MORITZ, .0F SCHWERIN, GERMANY.

MACH-HNE FOR woRKlNe RATTAN.

SPEQFICTION- forming part of Letters Patent No. 224,212, dated February3, 1880.

' Application filed October 5, 1878. Patented in GermanyY September 21,1877.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ADOLPH MORITZ, of Schwerin, in the Empire ofGermany, have invented certain new and useful Improvements The inventionconsists in a novel arrange-` ment and construction of cutting orreducing devices for subdividing the split portions of twig or' caneinto pieces of any desired widths. Figure l is a front elevation of amachine constructed in accordance with my invention; Fig. 2, a planofthe same. Fig. 3 is a transverse section, in part, on the line afm;Fig. 4, a face View of a cutter-holder with attached cutters forradially splitting the twig or cane; Fig. 5, a transverse section, inpart, ony the line y y; and Fig. 6, a front elevation of certain devicesfor peeling or barking the twigs before splitting or dividing them.

Referring in the first instance, or more particularly, to Figs. l, 2, 3,4, and 5 of the draw-Y ings, A Aare the side frames of the machine,connected with each other by means of a crosstable, B, over which thematerial to be opererated on is introduced to the machine, either fromthe same side or from opposite sides of the machine, for the severaloperations to be performed lupon saidmaterial, accordingly as themachine maybe constructed in this respect to suit the convenience oflthe manufacturer, or as other circumstances may direct.

C -i's a main driving-shaft, which may be rotated by anyysuitable power.Upon this shaft is a spur-wheel, D, which serves, by means of gears EF,to rotate in their requisite directions 'upper and lower feed-rollershafts, Gr and H. The upper one, H, of these shafts is made adjustableand yielding relatively to the lower one by means of screws b andsprings c.

ters., of which' there may be any number, being shown iithe drawings ascarried by a single holder, K, supported by the table B on the deliveryside of said rollers. A grooved guide, L, arranged on the opposite orfeed side of said rollers, serves to direct the twig or cane to thegrooved feed-rollersl and J. The upper roller,

J, is raised or lowered according to the diameter ofthe twig or cane tobe split, and the cutter-holder K is correspondingly adjusted tocentrally guide the willow or cane relatively to the splitting-tools e,and through circular apertures f in the holder K` and a back plate, g.VThe cutter-holder K may thus be adjusted up or down by means ofvertically-adjustable supports h, attached to clips It, pivoted tostanchions l, and constructed to hook onto the upper roller-shaft, H, toretain the cutterholder and its cutters in position against theresistance of the cut, and to provide for the up or downadjustment ofthe cutters, together with the upper feed-roller shaft.

From the lower end of the cutter-holder lugs lt proj ectA downwardthrough slots in the table, litt-ing sufficiently' loosely in said slotsto permit the cutter-holder to follow the movement of the clips to whichit is pivoted. The cutterholder, being pivoted nearer to the pivot ofthe clips than is the adjustable roller, will, of course, move a shorterdistance than said roller,

so that the knives will preserve their proper' location with respect toboth upper and lower rollers.

Fast also on the shafts Gr and H are other rollers, M N, for feeding thelongitudi nally-split portions of the twig or cane, after delivery fromthe cutters e, to a shaping or planing and reducing knife, O, said splitportions or lengths being introduced to the rollers M N through anydesired number of guides m m, adjustable toward or from each other vbyslides n n, and the lower one, N, of these rollers being grooved toreceive the rounded portion of the twigs or cane. Said knit'eO, whichacts upon the angular surfaces of the split portions of the twigs orcane, reduces said portions to the desired thickness.

To utilize these reduced split lengths or portions, it is desirable inmany cases to subdivide them into strips of equal breadths. To this endsaid reduced split lengths or portions are introduced through anadjustable guide,y P, between supplementary rollers Q, and 1t on theshafts G and H. The lower one, Q, of these rollers has a plainperipherieal surface; but the upper one, It, consists of a number ofdisks, w, having knife-like edges or peripheries. Thesedisks areremo\fable,and arran ged at suitable distances apart by means ot'intervening washers. Aloosering,r,is also arranged upon said roller, andthe screw 1", passing through the ange s, bears upon said ring andcompresses the disks and washers between it and a tia-nge upon theopposite end of the roller, so that it will be seen thatthe number ofthe cutters and their distance apart may be varied. By passing theoriginally divided and reduced strips through these disk-cutters saidstrips are cut into lesser strips ot' a breadth corresponding to thedistances of the cutting-disks apart.

When operating upon twigs, which it is necessary to peel or bark beforesplitting, shaping, or reducing and subdividing them, I attach to oneofthe side frames, A, ofthe machine, in place of the guideLandcutter-holder K, for operation in connection with the feedrollers I J,or without removing the guide L and cutter-holder K, for operation inconnection with annnlarlygrooved special feedingrollers, peeling orbarking devices or Scrapers T U, Fig. 6. These devices T U have reversearched orv right-angle-shaped scraping-edges r s. One of these scrapers,T, is stationary and attached to the table B, in pla-ce, it ,may be, ofthe guide L, and the other, U, of said Scrapers is carried by a bracket,a', and is movable up or down by means of a lever, b', through a treadleor otherwise, an d a spring, c. The twig to be barked is firstintroduced sufliciently between the scrapers T U to allow the rollers IJ, or other rollers corresponding thereto, to get a fair hold upon it,and so that said rollers will draw the twig between the Scrapers T U,the movable one, U, of said Scrapers being in the meantime pressed downby hand or foot, and so that the sharp edges r s will strip the barkfrom the twig passing between the scrapers. In some cases,instead of thescraper U, a roller covered with rubber may be used for operation inconnection with the scraper T.

I do not claim the devices for radially splittingl the twigs or cane,for planing, shaving, or otherwise reducing the dat surfaces, or forscraping or peeling the twigs or cane, but merely describe them asuseful adjuncts of my invention.

I claim- The combination of the adjustable guide P, the plai n roller Q,and the cutting-roller R, fitted with a series ot' adjustablecutting-disks, w, for subdividing into breadths the split rattan .ortwig', substantially as specified.

